Why EVERY Business Should Be Involved In Online Social Networking

April 16, 2010 By Christine

A very good article has been viewed by over 12,000 titled ‘Why No Business Should Be Involved In Online Social Networking’.

http://biznik.com/articles/why-no-business-should-be-involved-in-online-social-networking

Although not in direct response to that article I did write my own which somewhat counters the arguments expressed therein.

My article ‘The Value of FREE’ at:

http://biznik.com/articles/the-value-of-free

suggests that in the new Web 2.0 climate and the ubiquitous nature of free digital products & services, both Social Networking AND Social Marketing are essential components of the new marketing mix.

Businesses grow through marketing their products and services but ‘Social Networking’ has definitely entered the social sphere. It may just be a case of semantics but my experiences through Biznik, Facebook, BNI and others have entered the realms of ‘social’.

My business markets itself utilizing social media websites but when I attend events, webinars, discussions boards, when I tweet, update my Facebook etc., I ‘personally’ am out there — that’s me and I am involved in Social Media Networking.

I am making personal connections that benefit me and that in turn helps both my business and hopefully the individuals and businesses which whom I have networked.

So my contention is that every business should be involved in online social networking and online social marketing… they are synergistic rather than mutually exclusive. What do you think?

Filed Under: Blog

Paying for free

April 13, 2010 By Christine

The ‘free’ model works best for a market leader but they invariably have significant revenue streams from other activities that effectively fund the free aspect. And the ‘free’ just helps grow the market for the activities that actually pay. Google is the best example as it makes billions of dollars from search and advertising so is able to provide an ever increasing amount of free stuff; which in turn grows their overall business.

Biznik is in the ‘free’ market but with premium membership too which funds the 96% or so of those that don’t pay. Biznik is the only social media service I actually pay for as for me it is by far the best; although the smallest. I’m sure the model will change if it reaches the membership heights of a ‘LinkedIn’ or maybe it won’t.

Funding ‘free’ is a tricky business which even loss making Twitter is struggling over. Now they are entering the world of sponsored tweets, no less!

The thing is, we live in a digital age which requires digital payments. I use my ‘debit card’ for all online business; whether booking a room at the Double Tree, my Biznik membership or an airline ticket to LA. If you’re going to participate fully in this digital age… sometimes it requires an on-going commitment even if that requires a minor risk.

Filed Under: Blog

Do I need an iPad?

April 11, 2010 By Christine

I must admit that the iPad appeals to me… but more as a ‘toy’ right now.

As I am primarily involved in cloud based (online) systems like WordPress, Sugar CRM and social media sites, I have found that having a regular wide screen laptop (for presentations and development) and a netbook (for getting online quickly where ever I am) is all I need. What is important to me right now is the browser and what I can do through that browser. I haven’t really gotten into the whole ‘apps’ thing.

With a netbook (now costing less than $300) I can pretty much do anything I want and from where ever I am. WiFi is available just about everywhere I go and to be honest, I have never made that mental leap from a keyboard to typing on a screen.

I want to play with an iPad but am not sure I need one… but you can never ignore Apple. If Steve Jobs thinks we all need an iPad, maybe we do.  I do think a visit to the Apple store might be on the cards.

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A case for the Biznik ‘calling card’

April 9, 2010 By Christine

I recently went to a Sunday morning tennis Biznik event organized by Rags Madison. Being spring in Seattle, we had a number of rain breaks and during one of these, Rags mentioned that his business card just has his name on it… no other details at all. It’s what the old WASPs used to call a ‘calling card’. His reasoning was that people just Google him.

That got me to thinking that I’ll Google some of the more active members of Biznik and see if the ‘calling card’ would work for them. From my little exercise I found that Googling a Biznik member’s name invariably put them on the first page of Google with their Biznik profile.

If that’s not worth 10 bucks then I don’t know what is. And it could even bring back a new fashionable calling card. ‘Christine Ely – Biznik’. Google me.

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A Shift in Marketing

April 7, 2010 By Christine

Marketing has shifted focus considerably over the past few years. There are plenty of business people who were marketing their services effectively but are now finding the effectiveness of that marketing has diminished due to the nature of how modern customers research and buy.

The ‘marketing mix’ still exists but for an ever increasing percentage of business services it has moved online and especially into social media / testimonial based community oriented sites.

Those business people who ignore (or are unaware of) promoting their services through interactive online communities (such as Biznik, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Yelp, WordPress etc) will find that what they knew about marketing has lost a large degree of relevance. An advert in yellow pages says a whole lot less than a blog post with a series on comments from happy customers.

The business owner has to, as never before, think like his customer. What is the customer searching for, where is he searching, how is he making his buying decision and what are his existing customers saying about him.

Some traditional methods still apply but for a businessman to be effective, he has to understand the market he’s in. He doesn’t have to be the best marketer in the world (you can always hire marketing firms) but he has to understand what is happening out there and he has to ‘understand’ what the ‘marketing experts’ are telling him.

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What defines an ‘expert’ in Biznik

April 5, 2010 By Christine

There’s been a lot of talk and some criticism over the ‘expert’ badges in Biznik. Basically if you write a number of good articles and they are rated highly by other members, an expert badge magically appears on your profile page.

As the rating system for articles has been called into question, it follows that receiving an expert badge based on those ratings calls into question (for some anyway) the validity of the expert badge itself.

This is what I think:

  1. You have to write the articles in the first place to qualify.
  2. Click on someone’s expert badge and the articles that qualified them for that badge appear. You can then judge for yourself whether they know their stuff.
  3. The badge by itself means very little other than well received articles have been written but it shows there has been some commitment.
  4. As in life, the true test is out there in the field.

I, for example, class myself as an expert in web development specializing in WordPress. I have been working with personal computers since 1982 and was using Frontpage before Microsoft even owned it. But it doesn’t matter what I think or that I have a ‘so called’ expert badge; it matters what my customers, readers of my articles and visitors to my events think.

I have so far run 32 events which regularly attract between 20 and 30 visitors. If I got up in front of a room full of people every week and didn’t know what I was talking about, I would get found out. Unhappy attendees would leave negative comments and no-one would come to my future events and no-one would hire my services.

So I look at other Biznik ‘experts’ and I see that they too fill rooms week after week, so while I may not agree with everything they say, I would never begrudge them their expert status because they prove their worth where it really matters. If you go through the list of active Biznik members, read their profiles, testimonials of their clients, readers and visitors, you’ll find a wealth of experts that have a pretty amazing set of talents.

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The consequences of secrecy / openness and the emergence of ‘YOU’

April 4, 2010 By Christine

Not so long ago indiscretions, faults and bad business practices could get covered up by the perpetrators keeping their mouths shut, ignoring the problem and pretending nothing was wrong. They would wait it out until the problem went away. That was before Social Media hit the big-time! Social Media is where you and I can get published and heard by anything from a few hundred to countless millions of people… if we have something to say and know how to say it.

The phenomenon of the individual taking on the instigator (whether that’s a big company or just a malcontent) is directly powered by the ubiquitous nature of social media.

Take the example of Dave Carroll, a Canadian singer who’s guitar got broken by United Airline’s baggage handlers. He was sitting in the plane and saw the handlers literally throwing his guitar around. When he arrived at his destination, sure enough the guitar was broken. He complained but United were unsympathetic and/or plain disinterested. Over the course of the next few months, Dave tried to get some form of compensation and an apology but to no avail. So what did he do? He made a music video and uploaded to YouTube. What followed is the dream of the victim and nightmare of the complacent. Viral social transmission ensued.

Dave’s video was watched ‘millions’ of times causing untold damage to United’s reputation as well as their bottom line. It got picked up by the blogs, tv and eventually United. But by then the damage was done. Check out the Dave’s music video here and watch how the story unfolded. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5YGc4zOqozo

If you have something to say, then say it because there has never been a better time to be heard. There are numerous avenues to pursue including YouTube, Facebook, WordPress, Blogspot, Biznik or a combination of all of them. Social media sites and blogs have tools to communicate with each other so your message can ‘escape’ very quickly.

It doesn’t have to go viral to get a sense of satisfaction either. Take the case of someone in my Biznik network complaining that I spammed them. I felt a little miffed as I was providing what I considered to be helpful updates. So I wrote a small post in Biznik’s Biztalk. 3 days later, over 650 reads and 38 comments. I didn’t have to ponder and stew over the complaint; instead I sought opinions and was richly rewarded by the interest of other members.

How has this ‘web publishing empowerment’ affected you? How has it affected your life and/or business that you can ‘talk’ to the world in a matter of hours or days? Does it simply amaze you like it does me? I would love to hear your stories and experiences.

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Are sending Internal Biznik emails to your network SPAM?

April 1, 2010 By Christine

This week I sent two emails to my Biznik network. I send these emails in response to questions I receive about my next Biznik event or for some technical support on a WordPress or Networking issue.

So I sent 2 emails:

  • Email #1. I have written an Introduction to WordPress and am giving is away in a free eBook.
  • Email #2. I am launching a new ‘free’ WordPress 101 SEO and Blogging workshop.

I get internal emails all the time from other Biznik members whose network I belong to and am I’m happy to receive them. If I wasn’t, I’d remove myself from their network or ask them to desist from sending me emails.

My two emails this week were sent in the hope of assisting my network but of course I do want people reading my eBook and attending my events (otherwise I wouldn’t publish them). I want to help the community but I also want to know that what I do is helping.

However, I have been reported to Biznik for ‘Spamming’ which begs the question… what is the definition of spamming?

It seems to be a fine line between trying to support your network and spamming.

According to Biznik these activities constitute Spam

  • Sending promotional, identical, or repeated messages or invitations to your network
  • Including your website URL in posts, comments or biztalk threads when it does not relate to the conversation
  • Posting identical articles, events, and comments to Biznik Groups that are unrelated to the Group topic.

None of these activities were part of my email so I ask, what is the point of joining a network unless you are going to communicate with that network?

I would say to those that have flagged my emails as ‘spam’ to perhaps remove me from their network (or even to email me to say please don’t email me); which will result in no further communication from me.

As spamming is an activity that can get your Biznik account suspended or shut down it is something that we all have to take seriously. Messaging your network is a Biznik feature and requesting to be in someone’s network or accepting an invitation surely gives permission to send occasional messages.

Your thoughts?

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Advertising (for the most part) is a dead horse!

March 27, 2010 By Christine

A few years ago the world of advertising and marketing changed. Time magazine’s man of the year was ‘YOU’.

Big companies still spend millions of dollars on slick TV commercials. Advertising is still hugely expensive during your latest episode of 24 or Lost but does anyone really take any notice anymore? Do people still watch the ads or do they switch off until 24 is back?

There’s an old saying that 5% of the people out there are looking for your services at any one time; the trick is to grab that 5%’s attention at the time they’re looking. And unless you have a ridiculously large advertising budget, it’s not worth the effort.

This is why blogging, web site content, search engine optimization, quality of service and word of mouth is so important. The buyer now has the power and the buyer is getting very savvy.

When you want to buy a new car, new furnishings or even a new house, do you wait until you see an advertisement or do you get onto the web and search?

When you see results do you jump at the first slick advert or do you read quality content and testimonials? Do you feel you’re in charge of the buying decision or are you swayed by that slick advertising?

Does advertising work for you or does buyer response, testimonial, experience, comparison and effective quality content sway your decision?

It’s an important question and one every business owner should bear in mind when promoting his or her own business.

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